CHESAPEAKE, Va. -- Two pieces of a police officer's diving equipment failed during a December dive-team training exercise, leading to the drowning death of Officer Specialist Timothy Schock in a Greenbrier lake, according to findings released Wednesday by the Police Department.
Adding to the tragedy, no boat was on hand at Oak Grove Lake Park to immediately respond when Schock went under while diving and failed to surface.
Nor were emergency responders standing by to help him the moment he went in distress, according to findings released by Police Chief Kelvin Wright.
Schock's death was ruled an accident due to drowning, though the 41-year-old father of one and a 16-year department veteran also had an enlarged heart, contributing to his death, according to a spokesman with the Medical Examiner's Office.
The day Schock died, his troubles began when a piece fell off his buoyancy compensator, an inflatable vest that helps a diver ascend or descend, causing it to malfunction.
A button on the power inflator that deflates the vest fell off, but he went underwater for the first part of his training with no problems, and he could manually inflate or deflate the vest. Later, when he went back down to continue training, the power inflator stopped working and the vest wouldn't hold air anymore.
The second issue contributing to his death was when he tried to release the weights from the vest by pulling on a ripcord. It didn't work, Wright said.
The chief immediately suspended the team's diving exercises as a precaution and ordered the equipment tested.
Although some equipment was sent off-site, problems with the weight-release system divers use to make it easier to get under water were quickly apparent. Wright said weight releases of the other 12 divers were tested and they all failed.
"I can't explain why," he said.
"They trained for these events," Wright said. "But because of multiple failures, this is difficult to overcome."
On Wednesday, police provided the first real glimpse into what went wrong during a routine training exercise at the lake off the Va. 168 Bypass.
Previously, the chief had declined to release many details, saying he wanted to wait until his department and the Virginia State Police had concluded their inquiries.
Testing the equipment took time, he said, as did interviewing the members of the dive team who witnessed what happened.
"I felt it was unwise to comment on the case until we had a thorough, complete and factual accounting as to what took place," Wright said at a news conference.
On Dec. 20, Schock, a member of the dive team for six years, was practicing routine underwater search-and-rescue maneuvers. He was with a dive buddy, an officer the department declined to identify.
After he and his partner submerged at 11:30 a.m., they noticed they had missed the first of three buoys they were trying to navigate, so they resurfaced after being underwater for 17 minutes.
When they dove down again, Schock's partner reached the bottom first and noticed Schock was having trouble ascending and noticed his vest was not filling with air. So the partner inflated his own vest to float to the surface with Schock, according to the findings.
When they surfaced, Schock removed his face mask and inexplicably told his partner he was out of air, even though his tank still had enough air in it "to sustain him throughout the training exercise," said police spokeswoman Kelly O'Sullivan.
As Schock held onto his partner, they alerted other officers around the lake that they were having problems. The partner tried to blow air into Schock's vest, without success, and offered his respirator.
Schock took a single breath and then pushed it away.
When his partner told Schock to release his weights, he said: "I can't."
Both Schock and his partner decided to swim to shore, and Schock held onto his partner's neck and scuba tank.
With no boat on the water, other officers saw the two and got in their cars to drive around the lake to their aid.
Before they could assist, Schock's partner told him to loosen his grip because he was choking him. When Schock did, he let go completely and slipped underwater.
Another rescue diver brought Schock to the surface a short time later and began CPR until emergency crews arrived.
Wright said the age, wear and lack of proper maintenance caused the power inflator to fail.
Schock's equipment was three years old, and the department has been using its equipment for eight years, O'Sullivan said.
Among the changes Wright announced is that a technician will service all diving equipment. Police divers had been maintaining their own equipment until Schock's death.
"We have checked with a dive expert in another city," Wright said.
"He went through the equipment. We should have had them serviced by a technician. (Dive team members) lacked the expertise."
In addition, emergency responders will be present during practices and a boat will be on the water. The chief said the department had applied for grants to buy new vests, power inflators and two boats before Schock's death.
In the wake of the accident, the department is replacing all vests and weights.
The department also is incorporating a "buddy check" of all equipment worn by a diver prior to them submerging. If something isn't working properly, the officer will not be allowed to dive.
An investigation by the state's Department of Labor and Industry is ongoing.
Copyright 2012 - The Virginian-Pilot, Norfolk, Va.
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
